Volt Arcade
= COMMANDER VOLT ALESSANDRO ARCADE = "I always feel like if I'm not working myself to exhaustion, then I'm not doing my job." - Volt A. Arcade Full Name: Neil David Coleman '''Adopted Name: Dr. Volt Alessandro Arcade ' '''Race: elemental lycanthrope ' 'Age: not recorded ' '''Date of Birth: November 20th, XXXX ' '''Eyes: puppy-dog brown ' ' '''Fur: shiny gold ' Hair: jet black ' '''Inate Element: Electricity and Magnetism ' '''Prefered Weapon: paired plasma vulcan lasers "Xtremely Badass Twin Octople Chaingun Laser Cannons (XBTOCLC's) Vehicle(s) of Choice: gold 57' Chevy Bellaire Favorite Food: BBQ Ribs Favorite Music Genre: Smooth Jazz (saxophone) Favorite TV Show: "Classic Car Showcase" Theme A: "Electromagnetic Power Plant" - Mega Man X Theme B: "Power Plant" (Volt Catfish) - Mega Man X3 Theme C: "Fuse Man Stage" - Mega Man 11 Theme D: "Electricity" by O.M.D. Personality Profile The commader of the Mirandian branch Ultra Crew Institute Action Team in Miranda City, Volt works tirelessly to make sure his operation is going smoothly. As a leader, he is the father figure for his rather unusual family of UCI Action Team operatives and treats them very well. Described as being intelligent, good natured, and somewhat of a workaholic, Volt is always asking himself if he's doing his job and doing it properly. Volt has a slight emotional streak which he acquired from his mother, making him passionate about things he feels strongly toward or against. He is known to become withdrawn and absentminded the more involved he gets with a major project. Volt often comes across as older than he actually is, often being irritated by overwhelming noise and commotion outside his shop and has been known to slam open the door to complain about it like a grumpy old man; something he attributes to his sensative werewolf hearing. A pet peeve of his is not being able to finish what he starts. A few of his closest friends address him by his real name while others stick to his adopted alias. History Early Roots: A lone orphan survivor of a secluded village of elemental lycanthropes laid to waste by werewolf hunters, the young cub was discovered by four explorer-researchers of the Neo Arcadia City Ultra Crew Instute who were also some of its founding members. He was nursed back to health by its chief medical officer and soon adopted into the Arcade family and named as the unspoken heir to the C.E.O.'s philanthropist fortune. Despite the trauma of losing his village, birth family, and friends, young Neil recovered and moved on as member of a new family. Thanks to the UCI's exceptional upbringing, the young cub would learn early on the lesson of tolerance; and thus not to harbor a grudge against the people who took everything away from him and left him for dead. As a child, young Neil took on a new name, inspired mainly by his highly electric nature. At this young age he had become the mascot for Volt Cola following a slight misadventure as the result of his curious nature (and a sweet tooth) when the Arcades toured the facility, prompting Arcade Industries to become a major sponser of the company. Raised primarily by the C.E.O. (Dr. Garfield P. Arcade) and chief medical officer (Dr. Nermal Stephanie Gamepro) while trained by its military head of security Arlene W. Pinball (the "Sarge") and educated by the C.E.O's own adopted brother Professor Odie M. Arcade (and Vice-President of the company), Volt grew up to be the prodigal son and versed in many applied sciences. As he grew older and more experienced, he had taken up the philosophies and manorisms of his father-figure and hero, the C.E.O., the intellect and technical skill of the Vice-C.E.O, the emotional nature of his mother-figure the chief Medical Officer, the drive for work ethic from the head of security (and his gym instructor), annd the sense of humor of the company's automechanic and overall maintenance man, Edward Theodore Videomax. He had learned to "be cool" from the almost-never-seen B.J. Wizardman III (magic-users are extremely rare in Neo Arcadia), learned to be gentle from UCI HQ's receptionist/accountant/legal council/overall paper jockey, Kitty Rosetta Dimitir; studied self-defense from its spiritual guru, Kimiko "Shin" Kazama and came to understand other bits and pieces about life from the organization's stoic intelligence officer Ivan Vectorgraphinski, and its flamboyant extreme sports affecianado, Ariel X. Rastajive. Life for Volt in the UCI was a mix of work and play, business and pleasure. His guardians served as many of his teachers while he studied at the institute; sometimes their lessons and philosophies would conflict with one another, but in time Volt figured out a good synergy of their collective teachings. Once he got the gist of how his mentors lived, he began to develop his own work ethic, believing strongly that even though his good fortune was freely given, he was inclined to work hard to earn and deserve it so as not to become spoiled--pretty much the core of the C.E.O.'s humble values. Volt did consider himself priveledged but he wasn't about to let his family down by taking that for granted. Post-Ekris: By the time Volt had graduated from the institute, Dr. Arcade believed he was ready to command his own UCI action team. At the time Neo Arcadia had voiced its interest to begin dipolomatic and economic relationtions with Fontraile. Dr. Arcade had used his influence to request Neo Arcadia's leaders offer the Ultra Crew Institute's services to the rebuild of Miranda. Seeing this as a challenge for Volt to cut his teeth on, Arcade recommended him to lead the operation for the rebuild as well as future endevours for the benefit of both countries and their people. Volt, a little nervous if not skeptical about taking up a leadership position, worked up the nerve to approach UCI Action Team's ranks and hand-pick the core of his Miranda UCIAT. By reputation and personal encounters, Volt first chose Bunnie Rabbotou; believing her to be a no-brainer choice for second-in-command, martial arts grand master, weapons expert and liason to UCI head of security, Arlene W. Pinball. Bunnie's selection invariably necessitated that Princess Violet Tokugawa--the abassador of the Neo Arcadian province of Edoropia and its capital city's active ruler--be chosen as third in command, being that she was Bunnie's best friend and by extension the odd couple, while having a unique love-hate relationship, were inseparable. And furthermore, Violet had legendary skill as a computer programmer (and self-proclaimed underground hacker) as well as the ability memorize countless DNA strands, pretty much forward and backward, making her the team's genetic librarian and head of biometric technology. (Plus she was a princess and absolutely, positively filthy-stinking-rich pretty much ensuring a financial reservoir as situations would inevitably call for.) After some searching, Volt decided on Jon Talbain--a strong, silent, big-hearted mostly unknown at the time--to fill in the role officially as data archivist but unofficially as the team's brawn. And finally long-time (and forgotten) UCI veteran, ironically a child in appearance and rather naive to the ways of the mortal world, the archangel known as Pit would round out his team as scout and cartographer. After a meet and greet with Miranda's royal court and time to settle in, Volt took to the stress of rebuilding Miranda like a fish to water. Often joking that he be called on it if he ever got too strict, he was considered rather leniant and likeable by his employees and operatives. Spearheading the rebuild and redesign of Miranda's power grid, Volt personally worked a cherrypicker and installed miles of power line and countless residential, industrial and commercial district transformers as well as supervised the rebuild of the power plants and even put up a streetlight or two-hundred during the early years. In that early time, Volt would marry his fellow UCI collegue sweetheart, Lisa M. Fitzwater and become a family man; which did not slow his energies as commander and occasional field operative. In the time that followed, Volt and Lisa would have their first daughter whom they named Elektra (due to a typo at the birth certificate registration it was mistakenly spelled Elektra instead of Electra.). Elektra would attend Miranda schools and then venture to Neo Arcadia City to attend medical school, learning directly under Nermal S. Gamepro. She would return to Miranda City and intern at the UCI Medical Bay. When Elektra came of age she'd marry Jon Talbain, making him Volt's son-in-law--whom he had already had a warm and friendly comradery with. As Miranda City took shape, Volt set up a more comfortable residence in the form of an electronics supplies and components shop with repair work on the side in the square, being closer to his work, but he'd find himself cursing himself for being away from his family for extended periods of time, especially with twin daughters newly-born. Today: Volt continues on as director of Miranda UCI operations, growing ever concerned about the war and outside threats like Tal and Regina but pressing on, rarely missing a beat. Bunnie continuously reassures him of his performance as the Commander and gives him all the sound advice and encouragement he needs to keep going. Volt finds himself collaborating a lot with Dr. Nikita Lynx and Violet Tokugawa on large-scale projects (mostly because he's new to the next-generation nanotechnology and he "sucks at programming".) Volt since finished his black belt in karate at Rabbot Dojo but decided not to pursue further training. Nowadays he spends less time on the frontlines, being a family man, but knows when even he need to get back into the field with Regina's unholy crusade against non-humans going on. However he manages to find time every three nights of the full moon once a month to host a barbecue on the balcony of Miranda's largest clocktower, with Jon assisting and providing his (self-proclaimed) city-famous Talbain Family Steak Marinade Recipe 777. While he designs many new gear himself, Volt has since found a steady stream of new technology from Nikita Lynx provided in the form of blueprints he will happily work from. Although he does find himself asking if it seems...even beyond Technopolis' level of technological evolution. Though he dismisses it as probably something the long-gone city kingdom of Ecotropia probably invented before its tragic catastrophy. Education Volt, like all attendees of the institute, received a Kindergarten through College education. Many of the founders themselves served as his teachers and instructors. Dr. Arcade was a full-time teacher to Volt, taking him under his wing and teaching him the ways of the world--not just in the education sense but also in life's lessons and his own personal believes and philosophies to living it honestly and to its fullest. Professor Arcade handled the majority of his science and mathematics curriculum, quickly moving him to an accelerated program once he had established the young boy's aptitude. When he approached college level, Volt had taken a fascination in electricity and electronics much to the Professor's delight (or the closest to emotion the rather Spock-like professor had been known to show). It was a rather obvious choice, too considering his elemental nature and it only boosted his knack for it. While not as passionate with them as electronic hardware research and development, Volt augmented his college years with minor degrees in industrial chemistry, metallurgy, mechanics, and physics. He was awarded patents for a number of systems which would become core in his main weapons--the Xtremely Badass Twin Octuple Chaingun Laser Cannons (XBTOCLC's) and the revolutionary Energized Nanotomic Granular Infrostructure-compression Nuclonium Electronic (E.N.G.I.N.E.) mircrodot object compression and retrieval storage system--a technology which rivals the storage abilities of magical bags of holding. While not considering himself particularly athletic, Volt's enhanced werewolf strength, speed, and agility compensated enough for him to hold his own against the Sarge's brutal military approach to P.E. Volt learned to dread dodgeball early on and time on the treadmill was murder on his tender digitgrade werewolf feet. Though he never found a sport that interested him in the least, Arlene seemed to believe he had the most skill in soccer. Volt learned about the value of life and the importance of caring for it any form from his mother figure, the demure (if not occasionally overemotional) Dr. Nermal S. Gamepro. In addition to teaching life science and biology, Dr. Gamepro also walked the young werewolf through home economics. While Volt might not be making any creme brules, gouloshes, souffles, casarolls or the like any time soon, he sure can grill good steaks, burgers, ribs, and chicken. Edward Videomax was Volt's instructor during autoshop and his teacher during shop class. Ed knew his way around an engine block and had a million jokes, riddles, and puns to keep it fresh. And there was always a degree of spontaneity when Ed's college, Roy R. Rooster would be around to play a practical joke or two. Having a sense of humor made the lessons seem to fly by and no one made it more fun then Edward but the real lifes lessons came in his appreciation of classic cars. With Edward's help, Volt would later go on to build his dream car--a 1957 Chevy painted shiny gold with silver trim and loaded up with all of his own designs and modifications. Volt didn't see a lot of UCI's magus, B.J. Wizardman III and heard a lot less of him (he was a man of very few words). But B.J. had a way of steering him in the right direction when it came to being cool. Kitty was always very timid but she was always willing to help Volt find a book or help him write and edit his reports and paperwork. The majority of Volt's training for a black belt in karate would later come from his second in commmand, Bunnie Rabbot, but he got his early start from Kimiko Kazama. Being the youngest of the founders, it was unexpected that she was the wisest and most mature of them. In the time Volt knew Kim, he would never know her to raise her voice or show any level of surprise. In fact it almost seemed like she was living a few seconds in the future, often knowing things before Volt would even ask her. It was even more puzzling to Volt that much about Kim would later be parelleled by Bunnie in ways he couldn't put to words. Volt was never a sports person but he could party with the best of them which is what Ariel was all about out. Spontaneous, loud, and cheery, Ariel viewed life as one big party and one shouldn't have worries crashing it. Ariel would always suprise people by suddenly breaking into dance and maracca-shaking just on a whim. More than anything she taught him to be who you are and that you are who you want to be. Volt would like to attribute his ability to keep others' secrets as something he picked up from Ivan. But in truth, Volt tends to forget he was even told things he was asked to keep secret so the danger of spilling the beans often disappears with his absentminded memory. Daily Life: These days Volt finds himself donating things to the Miranda Technology Museum and assisting Miranda's universities in their tech career centers. And he remains a go-for to the Miranda Power and Light company for all their electrical utility jobs. Volt is very good to his operatives, doing his best to be the father figure as his mentor had done for him. He finds solace in Bunnie's ability to stay cool and collected as well has give him sound sagely advice every step of the way. While Violet continues to prove to be a handful, Volt would be nothing without her insane level of software development and A.I. research. And she'd be the same without his knack for hardware research and development (she tries to forget her attempt at making a shell for one of her AI driven pets--a robot puppy slapped together out of everything from a waffle iron to a juicer to a toaster. Her lack of forsight came too late when she realized she left no room for its elaborately-programmed computer brain. And to add further headache, her little robo-toy just couldn't be housebroken, spraying orange juice all over the place.) Jon remains Volt's best friend and confidant. As his son-in-law, Volt proudly declares "You're alright, J.T." with a thumbs-up. Though Jon's more-wolf-than-man habits have Volt tending to feel a tinge of humiliation; often wishing Jon would show some dignity for the species. Volt is very happy to have Pit around and treats his scout very well. He knows he can count on Pit for any mission. Proving far more capable than people might take him to be, Pit is just one less worry for Volt and a strong contributing factor to the gold electric karate werewolf's pride in his team. Volt maintains friendly relationships with the majority of Miranda's populace. He knows his role and takes it serious, willing to go to any length to loyally serve Queen Brooke. He keeps strong ties to Miranda's hospital where his eldest daughter works and keeps their equipment up to date. Volt tries to stay on Chameleon's good side and even aims for a somewhat respectful if not optimistic relation with him. Ripper often proves fairly nerve-racking; while good-intentioned, his recklessness and property damage are continuously shattering the peace and quiet around his shop. Volt isn't as well-acquainted with Dragonius as Bunnie has since become, but he's glad someone from Chameleon's end is reasonable and down-to-earth. Volt finds that he cannot host a lunar celebration cook-out without Tithius' presence. Which is probably a fairly good gauge of his and Jon's cullinary skills as grill jockeys. If it's true that the quickest way to a pseudo-dragon's heart is through his stomach, then Tithius' tendancy to gravitate toward Volt (and his oversized steaks and burgers) is all the proof the world needs. Oh well. The lil' guy's likeable and any trouble he does get into is at least not intentional. Now if only Volt could keep him from picking up a few words and sayings from Vi, he might not feel like Chameleon's on the verge of making a skin rug out of his hide. Having initially determined Cima as one to steer away from, Volt tries not to acknowledge her presence unless she becomes too overbearing for his employees and operatives, forcing him to step in; he may not go looking for trouble but he's not about to let anyone in his team be treated like a doormat. Though he has no intention of opening a can of worms if he can avoid it, Volt's got his eye on her and remains uneasy. After all she's already instigated at least one incident that involved drawing her weapon upon someone in the square; hostility that Volt considers a potential threat to the safety and well-being of Miranda's civilian populace. Someone with this much contempt for UCI needs to be handled very carefully. Especially if she's even half as skilled a marksman as she's said to be. Volt is quickly learning that a Sergal's reputation as a the pinnacle of soldier evolution is rarely exhaggerated. One thing's for sure, she's a very dangerous person on the field. Thank goodness she's at least on Miranda's side. Volt is continually dumbfounded by Kid's antics and has since decided to just accept it rather than try to make sense of it. Exhaggerating his apparent age, Volt finds himself muttering that he missed the boat on this generation and Kid is one instance of the vastly changing face of the new generation. But as long as he's not causing trouble or hurting anybody, his presence is in all likelyhood a very postive thing. Besides his crew absolultely adores him, especially Mitzi and Gadget. And in addition to that, he is extraordinarily likeable in a rather physics-twisting sort of way. Maybe Volt is just used to being around cats, having grown up among the nine of the UCI Founders who happen to be hybrid cats themselves. Volt Arcade is intrigued by recent new-comer, Alistair. While not a religious person himself, Volt certainly does not object to a man of the faith coming to Miranda. Besides, some people could probably stand a bit of moral fiber in their diet. Raising an eyebrow that he'd have a bear as a companion and friend, Volt is actually less surprised by Brick's presence than he probably should be; probably due in part to Lupe occasionally bringing some of the larger wild life from her nature preserve around to stretch their legs and such. (Still even Lupe has never brought a big bear to the square.) But reactions to Brick have been quite positive so Volt doesn't know how to be concerned if there's no need to be. It's quite often Volt find himself supplying or benchmarketing raw materials or ideas to Vanessa. And she supplies Gadget with a lot of leftover parts for her collection on days whenever the young mouse has time away from the shop; often Volt and Vanessa trade off with whom Gadget apprentices under. When not actually busy, Volt on occasion digs out one of his collection of saxophones and has a nice long session or two at the fountain to appeal to his love of music.